help for a newbie

[joanne]

hi all, i'm looking for telescope for christmas for my ten yr old daughter but also for mum and dad to enjoy.

i have no idea what im looking at but want something she wont become bored with, from the forums ive come up with the skywatcher 130 or skywatcher 127

but do i go for a supertrak or a goto.

i have budget of around £250-£300.

what should i be looking for any help would be appricated.

thanks in advance.

[barkis]

Hi. Joanne,

It is a difficult task choosing a first scope, and you will get lots of suggestions as to the merits of GotO instruments.

The thing to consider is, in order to get the technology, you sacrifice the size of the objective. With a limited budget, I would suggest a Dobsonian telescope, and one with a good size mirror.

Plenty of light gatherng power, and will yield wonderful views of most astronomical targets.

Have a look here.

Ron.

Dobsonians - Skywatcher Skyliner 200P Dobsonian

Whoops, forgot the important bit. Welcome to the SGL forum .

[Ant]

Hi Joanne,

Welcome to SGL

Difficult question to answer... as everyone has there own thoughts.

For me as a first scope, I would suggest the Skymax 127. It's physically small and light, but designed for highish powers on the moon and planets (but will also do OK with clusters/galaxies etc).

I wouldn't go for the goto, but with children a tracking drive is extremely handy. At least to start with you'll be doing the finding and then passing over to your daughter - with higher magnifications and without drives, the object could be out of the field of view before she gets to the eyepiece.

So I would suggest that Maksutov - Skywatcher Skymax 127 SupaTrak would be a good compromise. This isn't a goto scope, but once you've located the object the miunt will keep it in view and you can use the handset to centre the object (or pan around the moon).

But you'll need power for this scope, either AA's or Power.

HTH

Ant

[oldfruit]

Hi and welcome to SGL.

[ollypenrice]

The simplest, most adjustment-free instrument is the refractor and it can be used for daytime observing as well. Have a look here.

Startravel

On that page and the one after it you have the 120mm refractors from Skywatcher. For the buffs these lose out by having an optical defect called 'false colour' but it is not all that severe and is most unlikely to trouble a youngster. On the other hand the scope will give a bright view and a wide field, making things easier to find. It will not need any optical adjustments before use.

The more expensive version has a mount which makes it easier to track objects once it has been aligned but the cheaper mount does not need aligning and might actually be more intiutive for a child. It will aslo be easier to store, transport and take out.

I think the price incredibly reasonable and you can rely on First Light Optics for good service. While a case can be made for many instruments that's what I'd go for in your situation or if I were buying a scope for a school on that budget. (Ex teacher!)

But then again, Ant's suggestion of the Maksutov is very sound. Oh dear, too many good products on the market! In truth I'd be pushed to choose between them myself. The Maksutov is less childproof and has a smaller field of view but will give better detailed views of the moon and planets.

Olly

[TheThing]

I concur with Olly. The Skywatcher Startravels (SW STs) are great scopes and real value for money. I had the 102mm version and like it immensly. I shouldn't have traded it, but we live and learn!

I found that the false colour was barely a problem at all and got accustomed to 'tuning it out' in short order.

[JamesM]

I would second Ant's choice of the Skymax 127 for the tracking facility, which is so useful for children. The other thing is that finding the Moon, Jupiter and later Saturn etc is fairly straight forward and with this type of scope will certainly generate that immediate wow factor and certainly ticks the 'observing box' big time. When it comes to faint fuzzies etc then I suppose that they might not quite grab a child's imagination in quite the same way - crikey, the first time I saw Saturn is still giving me a thrill when I think back!

James

[Ags]

I think a Mak with tracking and/or goto is a good idea. I got a similar scope (NexStar 4SE) to share the views with a 7-year old. It's great to get the planet into view and it just stays there... The eyepiece will be at a convenient height for everyone.

From my experience of kids and telescopes, the planets and the moon are winners, but clusters, nebulae and double stars don't have the same impact.

[Capricorn]

Would avoid a dob for your daughter, at a recent evening a few girls of about the same age were trying a members Dob and simply didn't get the idea that they couldn't hold on to it without the thing pointing to a completely different area of the sky.

They may gather more light but tend to be a scope for one person to use.

If you located anything for her then she wiuld have to get her eye to where you had yours pretty quick and without contact with the scope.

The refractor is a fair idea, basically maintenance free. Skywatcher do a few some on tracking basis, some as goto's some just as scopes on a mount.

Have a look at Binoculars, Telescopes, Night Vision, Astronomical Telescopes, Bird Watching Binoculars - Sherwoods-Photo.com they have a good selection of the Skywatcher scopes so it is a good site to browse through and get ideas.

As to a goto, you would have to help with the alignment - not necessarily easy - and after that I guess that your daughter would get on fine with the handset and functions, after a little input from you. Kids accept computers pretty easily these days.